John Holt had a hard time getting acquainted with all of his 800 employees on a daily basis. Now, with new office spaces in the International District, not only does he get to learn everyone’s name, but he is also given access to magnificent views and more than 60 restaurants within walking distance.

“It’s been great. We are very pleased,” said Holt, the CEO of Cobalt Group, Inc. Today, Holt looks out the window to an extraordinary sunset, with the Olympics clearly visible in the background. In June 2010, the company merged with ADP, Inc., and became the head of its dealer services in the online marketing division. Read the full story

I looked back on 2010 to see if our blessings exceeded our losses. Indeed, they did

1. Welcome, Cobalt, our new neighbor

Vulcan building

So Amazon moved out last summer, and we lost a lot of business in the Chinatown/International District. Cobalt, which provides digital marketing services, has signed in as the new tenant to use up some of the space that Amazon occupied in the Vulcan buildings. Cobalt might not have as big of a crowd as Amazon. But having 800 additional bodies in our community is nothing to sneeze at. Hopefully, Cobalt folks like to dine out as much as the Amazon people did.